Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 14 | Page 47

COUNTRY FOCUS: KENYA Cloud computing has a huge potential for not only making life easier, but more efficient for everyone. Corine Mbiaketcha Nana, the Managing Director for Kenya Hub, covering East, Central and West Africa at Oracle, says Kenya is well positioned to ride the technological wave to transform businesses, governments and citizens. ////////////////// Riding the technological wave to a brighter future N ot far from Oracle’s Nairobi office is the head office of Kenyan telco, Safaricom, whose mobile money service, M-PESA, is making roaring success in driving financial inclusion in the East African country. In 2017, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that access to the M-PESA ecosystem had lifted about 194,000 Kenyan households, which represents 2% of the country’s households from extreme poverty. It is the cumulative effect of these kinds of economic actions and reactions, which have earned Kenya the moniker ‘Silicon www.intelligentcio.com “ WEALTH SHOULD BE CREATED IN AFRICA WITHOUT EXPECTING INVESTMENT AND DONATIONS FROM ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD. Savannah’, that could progressively translate into narrowing the gap between Africa’s rich and poor. Inclusive development is a key area of focus for the world. Hence the mantra that has been popularised by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – ‘Leave no one behind’. Whereas there is excitement around a resurgent economic environment in Africa, it is important that the benefits of future economic fortunes are inclusive. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), sub- INTELLIGENTCIO 47